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Fines help but cooperation the real key
17 Sep, 2006 By: Doug FieldingThis is a response from Doug Fielding, chairman of the Association of Sports Field Users (ASFU) to August’s AT Column “Hey, give that field some rest.” The ASFU represents the interests of about 17,000 players in the San Francisco Bay area, and maintains and manages 11 playing fields.
We are that community that has the $250 fine (which actually goes up to $500 for the second offense in 12 months) that Grady (Dr. Grady Miller, University of North Carolina) refers to and we are also the people who put the “Field Closed” saw horses in the middle of our fields. We also have fenced fields with locked gates but that isn't the solution.
What is important for your readers to understand is that all the above was done in cooperation with the field user groups. We got all the field user groups in a room and told them that absent a 10 week shutdown during either spring, summer, or fall, it was not physically possible to keep grass on a soccer field. They could play year round on a field that was mostly denuded of grass and had ruts or they could play on a field that would look like a golf course fairway at the beginning of each playing year. The user groups chose a better-maintained field and reduced playing time. And if they choose the other, your maintenance folks are off the hook.
The $250 fine is very effective because every time one of these is levied (about one a year) it sends a shock wave through the user group caught on the field (the fine is levied against the user group, not the team i.e. County Youth Soccer not The Tigers). First comes the shock that they are actually going to have to pay $250. Next comes the argument about how the field was totally playable and shouldn't have been shut down. Next comes the anger at them being singled out. Finally comes the check. And then two things happen.
First, the word quickly spreads that Bill and this group got fined for playing on a closed field. Everyone in the user group is immediately educated about the fact that the fines WILL be enforced. Second, and somewhat surprising, when anyone else from his group sees someone playing on a closed field they call us, demanding that this other group also gets fined. We've had this system in place for about five years and we can now put out a field closed sign on an open field and really not have to put much energy into patrolling the place because most people perceive that there is a high likelihood they will get caught and have to pay a pretty hefty fine.
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